The New Team of Saviours
by chidorisharpspear
Summary: Team 7's developement Naruto/Hinata Sasuke/Sakura Kakashi/?
1. Prologue

Author's Note: Hi everyone, this is my first story and it focuses Team 7's development. However, that doesn't mean you won't be seeing your other favourite characters in this story. I'll try to update asap and that's probably going to be once or twice a week. Please review! Thx!

Prologue

"Kakashi, you're the only one who is capable of leading this team. I promise you, they're all promising young shinobi." Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage, insisted for the umpteenth time.

He would convince the silver haired jonin no matter what. Even if he couldn't, he would order Kakashi to lead this team. After all, he was the Hokage.

"Hokage sama, I don't doubt their talent at all. I'm doubting my leadership capabilities and my ability to protect them." Kakashi stated blandly, his single visible eye gave off no emotions.

"For God's sake! You're the the most powerful shinobi in our village, you may even be the strongest in the world. No more arguments, you are appointed as the leader of Team 7. This is an order directly form me!

Kakashi sighed. For a brief moment he considered casting a genjutsu on the old geezer and dash out of the office at full speed. But against the Hokage, the only effective genjutsu in his arsenal would be Tsukuynomi, and he definitely would not want to cause the old man any mental damage.

"Hai, Hokage sama, i accept the post and will do my best to assist my team."

Hatake Kakashi was a man who had witnessed death countless times. He had lost his two teammates, his sensei and his parents. As he walked along the peaceful streets of Konoha, the Copy Ninja wondered why he had agreed to lead Team 7. Was it because he wanted to pay back Minato sensei by training his son? Or did he feel pity for the last loyal Uchiha, who bears the same pain as him?

The elite jonin graduated from Academy at tender age of 5. Became chunin a year late. Then managed to be promoted to jonin at only 8 years of age, when other children of his age group were still struggling to perform the basic Clone Technique. But his illustrious shinobi career had only soaked him in arrogance. If only he had listened to Obito's words...

Despite his overwhelming power, he couldn't protect those who were dear to him. Now, he had three students to protect and nurture.

Kakashi vowed that he would never let his current team perish at the hands of war, and he would train them to be the new generation of the Sannin.


	2. A Nostalgic Similarity

Kakashi peeped through a tiny hole in the wall of the Academy classroom. There were more than twenty graduated students at the meeting, but the jonin had his eyes focused on the three cute little genin he was going to teach.

Uchiha Sasuke was silent and rested his head on his hands; he was clearly annoyed and not surprisingly, didn't want to waste his time with his pathetic league of fangirls. The pink haired girl, Haruno Sakura, stared at Sasuke with hearts in her eyes and kept blowing small kisses at the raven haired boy. Kakashi sighed heavily at the immature behaviour; he was going to have a hard time turning her into a true ninja.

Finally, there was Uzumaki Naruto, the orphan of the late Yondaime. With his blond hair and blue eyes, the boy certainly resembled his father. Kakashi's heart ached at the thought of his dead sensei. He also vaguely noticed a blushing Hyuga girl stealing glances at the blond boy.

From the Academy reports, Naruto and Sasuke were at the top of the class in both ninjutsu and taijustsu. Sasuke and Sakura scored the highest in genjutsu while Naruto barely received an average. However, Naruto more or less made up for what he lacked in genjutsu with the highest marks in cooperation and class attitude. Unfortunately, his great talent for the art of shinobi was mostly overlooked by his peers due to the Kyuubi inside him. Sakura had great chakra control and may become very useful as a medical nin, genjutsu or even an assassin.

Kakashi did a shunshin and went to read the last chapter of Icha Icha under his favourite tree.

"Introduce yourselves, tell me about your likes and dislikes, hobbies, dreams and stuff like that."

"But sensei, we don't know anything about you!" Sakura giggled as she glanced at her Sasuke kun

Kakashi rolled his eyes at the girly high pitched voice.

"Me? My name is Hatake Kakashi, I have no desire to tell you about my likes and dislikes. I have a lot of hobbies and dreams for the future, who knows?" Kakashi stated with his usual apathetic tone.

"Basically, all we know is his name." Sakura muttered.

But Sasuke and Naruto were alarmed. Sasuke had heard his parents and some of his fellow clans talk about this Kakashi person before they all died. He'd even heard someone say that this man had the Sharingan. It was Naruto who knew even more and he was overwhelmed with excitement. He had read the bingo book countless times and he knew that notable shinobi were classified into 5 different ranks: C, B, A, S and SS. Hatake Kakashi is the only living shinobi in the world who is listed as an SS rank shinobi with the highest bounty in history of 800 million ryo. Even the late Yondaime, another SS rank shinobi, only had a bounty of 300 million ryo. The silver haired ninja had defeated countless S rank shinobi and at the age of 14, he held off the Kyuubi alone to allow his sensei to seal the demon.

Naruto stared at his new teacher in awe and wondered about the great jutsus he would learn from this man.

"Ok, now it your turn to introduce yourselves."

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto, I like ramen, reading about great shinobi legends, and practicing ninjutsu. I hate stupid civilians who can't tell the difference between human and demon. As for my dream , I wish to become the Hokage and have everyone acknowledge my existence!" Naruto did a fist pump and panted with excitement.

'He's grown up in an interesting way but he will get himself killed on a mission with that kind of behaviour'

"Your turn, Uchiha." Kakashi stated.

"I like practicing ninjutsu and honing my body. I dislike weak fangirls. I have both a dream and an ambition. My ambition is to kill a certain man while my dream is to not let anyone else suffer the same pain I bear."

'It's not surprising that he wants to kill Itachi, but he is still a moral person at heart.'

"Ok, Pinky?"

"Oh! I like a certain person. I also dislike the fangirls that annoy Sasuke kun. My dream is to win the (giggle) love of a certain someone." Sakura blushed.

Everyone else sweat dropped at the irony of what the naïve girl just said.

'What have I got myself into….'

"You all seem to be interesting people. We will do an exercise tomorrow that will determine whether you get promoted to genin or not. This test has a 66% failure rate, don't expect it to be easy Meet me at Training Ground 3 tomorrow at 6am and don't eat breakfast if you don't want to vomit.

After that, the jonin teleported himself back home with Hiraishin no Jutsu.

His new team was certainly similar to Team Minato and Team Hiruzen. Naruto had promising talent but was brash like Obito and Jiraiya. Sakura was a fangirl like Rin and Tsunade, although Tsunade didn't like Orochimaru and Rin focused much more on being a ninja. The Uchiha reminded Kakashi of himself and Orochimaru, he was a genius and wanted more power. Kakashi was one of the few who were privy to the truth about Itachi, but he did promise Itachi to let him die by his brother's hands. Obito gave him his left Sharingan and Itachi entrusted him with Shisui's last eye, they were both great shinobi who gave him the power to protect this village. But he couldn't protect Rin or sensei, what if he couldn't protect Team 7?

Staring at the photo of his old team, Kakashi felt a sudden rush of nostalgia and hoped that his new squad would grasp what Obito had tried to teach him during tomorrow's bell test.

Author's Note: Sorry about the lack of action in this chapter but I had to get the story moving. I promise that the bell test will be more entertaining. As for the romance part, Sasuke/Sakura and Naru/Hina will come soon while Kakashi's romance will be depicted later in the story. Please review! Thx!


	3. Bell Test

"Good morning everyone, I had to help an old lady with her luggage and while I was doing that, I tripped over a rock and had to find a medical ninja to fix me up." Kakashi eye smiled at cute genin.

"Stop lying with such a straight face!" Sakura yelled.

Naruto and Sasuke just sighed. Having seen the perverted glint in Kakashi's eyes when he read his book, it was obvious that Kakashi spent the three hours reading Icha Icha.

"Ok, the clock is set till noon so you have approximately 3 hours to steal these bells from me. Come at me with everything you've got."

Naruto and Sasuke already knew how powerful their sensei was, Sakura also learnt of his amazing reputation from researching last night so she knew that she had to do her best.

"Ready, start!"

Sasuke and Sakura leaped into the bushes, but Naruto only jumped back a few metres.

"Hmm, you're quite odd aren't you? Don't you understand that concealing one's presence essential to a proper shinobi?" Kakashi asked, putting a little scorn into his voice.

"Of course I understand, but I also know that it's useless against Sharingan no Kakashi." Naruto beamed.

'So he read the bingo book. What an interesting guy.'

Kakashi slowly fished out his favourite book and started to expertly flip through pages with his thumb.

"Why are you reading?" Naruto blushed, his face full of bewilderment.

"Because I want to know what happens next in the book. Don't worry, the fight would still be the same."

A vein throbbed on Naruto's forehead. The blond suddenly dashed forward at top speed, attacking Kakashi with spinning side kick. Without even looking, Kakashi caught Naruto's leg. Naruto followed up with a jab but the silver haired man threw him 20 meters away without any effort.

Naruto landed painfully. If Kakashi outclassed him in taijutsu, he would just beat him with quantity.

Taiju Kage Bunshin no Jutsu

Instantly, 200 clones appeared, each armed with a kunai.

"Let's go!"

Kakashi looked up lazily, and put his beloved Icha Icha away. He could easily toy with Naruto while reading, but he wanted to make it more interesting with a few ninjutsu. He was also impressed that the boy knew such a chakra taxing A rank jutsu by himself, even when taking into account his massive chakra reserves.

Katon: Karyu Endan

A powerful stream of fire engulfed the mass of clones. Kakashi put in less chakra in the jutsu as he certainly didn't want to kill his new student. However, Naruto was nowhere to be seen.

Suddenly, 4 clones of Naruto erupted out of the ground and pounced onto Kakashi. While they were holding onto the jonin, another clone appeared to take the bells but Kakashi dispersed it with a simple kick as it managed to touch the bells. However, the other clones had exploding notes plastered inside their clothes and they exploded a second later. Kakashi easily used a Kawarimi to escape.

Safely hidden in the bushes, the real Naruto cursed his failure. Kakashi had completely outclassed him at ninjutsu, taijutsu and speed. He had to find much more complex strategy or there was no way that he would get a bell.

Meanwhile, Kakashi sat on a tree branch and read his book. He surprised by the boy's strategy. The blond cleverly manipulated the smoke from his fire technique to mask his clones' movements and his clone managed to touch the bell; he even tagged the clones with exploding notes for a surprise attack. Kakashi was even more impressed at the fact that Naruto had been cautious enough to let his clones carry out the dangerous work. This is how a shinobi should fight. With a bit more ninjutsu and taijutsu training, his sensei's son would be chunin level in no time.

'Time to test the others and hopefully, they can grasp this test's true purpose in time'

Sakura leaped from branch to branch. She had seen Naruto's fight with Kakashi sensei and she was astonished! She never paid much attention to Naruto as everyone else tried to stay away from him in Academy, but his performance today validated his capability to be a fine ninja.

'But Sasuke kun is still stronger than him. Cha!'

Suddenly, Sakura froze at the scene in front of her. Her Sasuke kun was showered with kunai and shuriken. His trembling body with covered in blood.

"Sakura, help me. I'm about to die." Sasuke croaked.

"As much as I want to help you, Sasuke kun, I have no interest in illusions. Kai!" Sakura shouted

The genjutsu instantly faded and Kakashi stepped into the clearing.

"Impressive, Sakura. I guess the Academy reports are pretty accurate after all. How did you see through the genjutsu?" Kakashi tested the girl.

"Easy, Kakashi sensei. You're our team's leader and the bingo book says that you're a great ninja so you would never injure Sasuke kun like that." Sakura proudly explained.

Without warning, Kakashi lunged at the girl with the speed he had used against Naruto. Sakura couldn't dodge but managed to block the man's vicious kick but was blown into a tree by the brute force, her arms were bruised heavily. Knowing full well that she could do nothing against the jonin, Sakura brought her injured hands together to perform the basic Bunshin no Jutsu in an attempt to confuse Kakashi and escape.

Kakashi let her escape and decided to go and test the last Uchiha. While Kakashi was impressed by the pink haired girl's genjutsu detection and her intelligence, he was abhorred at her taijutsu and speed.

'Does she do any body conditioning?'

The girl certainly had potential but the problem was that she mainly focused on romance rather than the art of shinobi.

'The Academy isn't doing a good job. I'll need to have words with the Hokage'

As Kakashi was deep in his thoughts, a barrage of fire chakra infused shuriken were launched at him from his right side.

Kakashi leaped away and landed smoothly as the shuriken scorched the ground.

"Very nice, Sasuke. To think that you've mastered chakra flow at this age." Kakashi chuckled.

"It's nothing compared to you, sensei. You were already an Anbu captain at my age." Sasuke appeared from his hiding place behind the trees.

'Taking advantage of the moment after I defeated Sakura, he attacked when I was distracted. As expected from a Uchiha.'

Sasuke threw a kunai and Kakashi easily dodged.

"Directly attacks won't work, Sasuke." Kakashi chided.

However, the kunai cut through a rope, which launched a barrage of knives at Kakashi. The jonin jumped into the air to evade the trap and Sasuke had waited for that moment. As Kakashi was immobile when in the air, the raven haired boy attacked.

Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu

The massive fireball flew to collide with Kakashi but the jonin had way too much ways to deal with this situation.

Suiton: Mizurappa

The torrent of water extinguished the fire and the clearing was enveloped with steam. Sasuke glimpsed his sensei's shadow in the mist and attacked once again in that direction.

Katon: Housenka no Jutsu

The volley of small fireballs sailed towards Kakashi but the jonin expertly evaded them. Sasuke exploited that moment and dashed behind Kakashi at top speed. The jonin was a little surprised at the Uchiha's above genin speed. Sasuke did a roundhouse kick to keep Kakashi's left have busy and then followed up with a punch to keep the man's right hand busy. Finally, he kicked out with his free leg to occupy the jonin's elbow. With that done, the last loyal Uchiha smirked and reached out to grab the bells.

Kakashi quickly threw the boy away before his bells were stolen. No wonder the boy was called a genius.

'He's physically not as strong as Naruto, but he's taijutsu is better. This is still not enough to take the bells from me; I should finish it up now.'

Sasuke was out of tricks and decided to retreat, but a hand suddenly came out under the ground and grabbed his ankle.

Doton: Shinju Zanshu no Jutsu

The boy yelped as he was pulled down and imprisoned by the enclosing ground.

Kakashi did shunshin back to his tree and continued to read.

'They now know that they are no match for me, so will they show teamwork?'

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Sakura was still recovering from her brief confrontation with Kakashi sensei when she saw steam rising from where she encountered the jonin.

'Did Sasuke kun also run into Kakashi sensei? Or was it Naruto again?'

The pink haired girl was about to go and investigate when a firm hand gripped her shoulder. Sakura turned around and saw Naruto.

"Sakura, I need to talk to you." The blond whispered.

"What do you want?"

"From what I gathered during my fight against Kakashi sensei, I have to say that he is simply too strong for us."

"I know that so what's your point." Sakura huffed impatiently.

"Kakashi sensei doesn't expect us to get a bell on our own, he wants us to work together. Teamwork is our only chance."

"No! Just because you can't get a bell doesn't mean that Sasuke kun can't. The fact that you're here now means that Sasuke kun is fighting Kakashi sensei over there and I'm going to help him." Sakura insisted.

"Fine! But if Sasuke is defeated, you have to agree to work as a team."

"Sure, but Sasuke kun is the strongest so he will never lose!" Sakura stated confidently.

Meanwhile, Sasuke was helplessly trapped…..

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"Nani?! Sasuke kun! Kakashi sensei got you?" Sakura exclaimed.

"Shut up, Sakura. He's a jonin so what do you expect?" Sasuke retorted indignantly.

"It's alright, Sasuke. Both you and I know that Kakashi sensei is way too strong, so you know what we have to do right?" Naruto interjected.

"Yeah, I guess we have to work together." Sasuke sighed.

Naruto had a big grin plastered on his face and Sakura promised to help her "Sasuke kun" to the best of her abilities.

Hiding behind a tree, Kakashi smiled.

'Obito, your legacy is burning brightly within this new generation'

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"Kakashi sensei, here we come!" Naruto yelled with excitement.

Kakashi looked up from his book and graced them with an eye smile.

"No need to fight anymore. You guys pass."

"WHAT!" the three genin exclaimed.

"You guys got the purpose if this exercise and it would do you no good to fight at your current level any longer. Meet me here tomorrow and we will start training you to become the best of your generation."

"Hai, Kakashi sensei."

After that, the jonin used Hiraishin to teleport back home.

'This team will surely surpass the previous generation'

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"Sasuke kun, would you….um….. like to have lunch with me?" Sakura asked nervously.

"Fine, but don't get the wrong idea, I'm just a bit hungry after skipping breakfast. You want to come, Naruto?" Sasuke asked.

"Nah, you guys would look better as a couple." Naruto smirked and did a shunshin to escape Sasuke's anger.

Sakura nearly jumped up in joy when Naruto left them alone.

"He's MINE!'

AN: Sorry for the late update. Please review! Thx!


	4. Training Time!

AN: Please Review! Thx!

To say that Sakura was elated was an understatement. The 'date' had gone almost perfectly. Sasuke gave her a few taijutsu tips and they chatted about improving their chakra control. As an added bonus, Sasuke even offered to escort her back home, although not before telling her not to get the wrong idea.

"Sakura! Are you listening?" Kakashi demanded, his eye twitching violently.

"EEK! Sorry, Kakashi sensei, I'm a bit tired. Can you please repeat?" Sakura braced herself for another wave of killing intent. Naruto and Sasuke glanced at their female teammate; it wasn't like Sakura to zone out during a theory discussion.

Instead, Kakashi just sighed.

"Sakura, to a shinobi, intel is more powerful than any jutsu. If you miss even the slightest detail, you may end up dead in a mission."

"Hai, sensei, this will not happen again."

Kakashi nodded.

"Since you guys have all mastered the tree climbing and water walking exercises, I will have you learning some jutsu today." The jonin repeated.

Naruto grinned in anticipation while Sasuke simply smirked, Sakura was quite eager as well.

"With new jutsus, I will become Hokage in no time. Believe it!" shouted the blond.

Everyone else sighed at Naruto's childish behaviour. It was hard to believe that he was actually a genius.

"Calm down, you've still got a long way to go. First of all, I'll check out your elemental affinities." Kakashi replied.

The Copy Ninja handed out a piece of chakra paper to each of his students and told them to send their chakra into it.

Sasuke's paper crinkled.

"Nice, Raiton can capture and kill"

Sasuke smiled

Sakura's paper crumbled.

"Good, Doton for an excellent defence"

Finally, Naruto's paper was sliced in half.

"And Futon, which can cut through anything"

Kakashi was very pleased was his team's nature affinities.

The jonin made 2 clones and had them lead away Naruto and Sakura to teach them while the real him taught Sasuke.

"First of all Sasuke, do you know what's shape transformation?" Kakashi asked.

"It's used to determine a jutsu's range and form." Sasuke replied.

"Correct, your Gokakyu no Jutsu uses shape transformation to shape the fire into an orb. However, that is just basic shape transformation. The one you use in your Ryuka no Jutsu is a bit more complex as it shapes the fire into the shape of a dragon."

Sasuke nodded in understanding.

"Your fire techniques are quite advanced for a genin, we won't work on them today. The first lightning jutsu I'm teaching you today is Raiton: Kangekiha (Lightning Release: Wave of Inspiration). It is a C-rank technique used for paralysing and it works best with conductive material. Naruto will learn a water jutsu today so you guys can combine your jutsus during a team fight. I might teach you a water jutsu later but for now, you have to hook your enemy with a metal chain and paralyse them."

After showing Sasuke the necessary hand seals, Kakashi started to read his Icha Icha.

Being a natural genius, Sasuke mastered the jutsu in two hours and Kakashi decided to teach him another useful lightning jutsu, Raiton: Raiju Tsuiga (Lightning Release: Lightning Beast Tracking Fang). The lightning hound can effectively follow even a moving enemy, making it hard to evade.

Kakashi smiled at his pupil's progress. Maybe he can pass down his signature lightning technique to the Uchiha soon.

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"Sakura, earth jutsu is primarily used for defence but can also be a strong offence. Your role in our team is to provide defence and support. Since you have excellent chakra control, you can specialise in medical ninjutsu and genjutsu, which can effectively save your teammates. So what do you want to specialise in?" asked clone Kakashi.

"I don't know, they all sound really interesting." Sakura muttered.

"That's fine. Actually, I've already asked a medical ninja at the hospital to give you an introductory session tomorrow and I'll also teach you a genjutsu today so you can decide whether it interests you or not. You can even specialise in both if you want." Kakashi eye smiled.

Sakura beamed.

"But first, I'll teach you a C ranked earth jutsu called Doton: Doryūsō (Earth Release: Earth Flow Spears). It is a very useful technique that can be used to slow down your opponents and create a diversion. While a jonin can easily evade the spears, a chunin can take significant injuries from it. It trust that you know what shape transformation and nature transformation is?"

"Hai sensei!"

"Good, the shape transformation used in this jutsu is a bit advanced for a genin, so you might need to practice a lot."

"I'll do my best"

Kakashi showed Sakura the hand seals and after one hour of practice, the girl managed to form a few mud spears. However, the spears were of lower density than normal due to Sakura's tiny chakra reserves.

"Sakura, when our day is over, you're going to run a lap around Konoha before you go home". Kakashi growled, emitting some killing intent.

"NO!"

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"Say, say, what jutsu will you teach me today, sensei." Naruto asked impatiently.

"Calm down, Naruto. We have to go through some theory first." Clone Kakashi replied blandly.

"But I want jutsu!"

Kakashi dashed forward with a speed no genin can follow and crashed his fist against the boy's stomach.

"Shinobi, you do not make demands of me. I'm your leader and you will follow my instructions."

The blond stood up painfully and stifled a glare at the silver haired man.

"Hai, sensei."

"Naruto, although your nature affinity is wind, you also have an affinity for water due to your lineage." Kakashi continued.

"What! But I don't have any lineage!"

"You do. The Uzumaki Clan was an extremely powerful clan that was on par with the Senju and Uchiha in the past. They are renowed for their sealing jutsu and mastery of the water element."

"Cool! So I'm really awesome?" Naruto giggled like a civilian kid.

"I would appreciate it if you don't act like an average civilian anymore." Kakashi's eyed his pupil coldly.

"Sorry, sensei."

Kakashi sighed. He might not make it past this day without trying to kill his students.

"As a result, I'm going to teach you a wind jutsu and a water jutsu today."

Naruto almost shouted out in joy, but didn't want to annoy his strict sensei again.

"The wind jutsu is called Futon: Daitoppa (Wind Rekease: Great Breakthrough)."

Kakashi flashed through the hand seals and blew a powerful gust of wind that knocked several trees. Naruto was blown away by the force but landed smoothly.

"Wow! I'll become Hokage in no time once I master this jutsu."

Kakashi's eye twitched again.

"This is just a C-rank jutsu so you've still got a long way to go even if you master it."

Surprisingly, Naruto actually mastered this jutsu in an hour.

'It seems like he's got more talent in Wind Style than other users. I might be able to pass down the strongest wind jutsu to him'

"Good job, Naruto. No wonder your ninjutsu prowess was praised by Iruka sensei."

"Yatta! I'm gonna be an awesome ninja. Believe it!"

While Kakashi would normally have reprimanded such behaviour, he couldn't help but smile. Naruto resembled Kushina so much.

"Remember, Naruto. Since this is a wind technique, you can use it in conjunction with Sasuke's fire style during team fights. You can even use it to speed up your projectiles to make them more lethal."

"Hai, sensei."

'Teaching them might not be so bad after all'

"The water jutsu you will learn today is Suiton: Mizurappa (Water Release: Wild Water Wave). It is useful against fire jutsus and can also repel your opponents. During team fights, you can use it with Sasuke's lightning techniques."

Two hours later, Naruto successfully mastered the water jutsu.

"The others should be done by now, let's head back for the final exercise."

"Yosh!"

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The three genin managed to master everything they were taught. Sakura really had a knack for genjutsu, managing to master Magen: Narakumi No Jutsu (Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing Technique) in half an hour. Sasuke gained two lightning jutsus and Naruto gained a water jutsu and a wind jutsu.

"You've done well today. We will work on taijutsu for the last three hours of today's training."

Sakura groaned; her taijutsu was below average in the Academy. Even Ino buta chan was better than her.

"First, we will have Naruto spar with Sakura. Sasuke, you will analyse the spar when it's finished."

Naruto started with the Academy stance and Sakura did as well.

"Begin!"

Naruto dashed forward and sent out a barrage of vicious punches at Sakura. All the pink haired girl could do was block and evade. However, a punch eventually collided with her right cheek and sent her crashing onto the ground. Naruto stomped down but Sakura managed to roll away and somehow stand up. The blond jumped up and performed a horizontal fly kick which caught Sakura in the ribs. The girl collapsed and Naruto was declared the winner.

"Sasuke, analyse the fight please." Kakashi instructed.

"Ok. Sakura, your performance indicates that you've done absolutely no speed training and only did only the minimal taijutsu training. Your reflexes are simply too slow and you could've easily ducked to evade Naruto's fly kick." Sasuke stated, trying to keep the scorn out of his voice as he didn't want to hurt the girl, but her taijutsu was truly pathetic.

"That's quite a good analysis. Now Sasuke will spar with Naruto. Again, you will analyse the spar, Sasuke."

Sasuke's eyebrows rose in confusion, why didn't Kakashi tell Naruto or Sakura to do the analysis.

Kakashi knew what the Uchiha was thinking.

"Sasuke, what does your kekkei genkai allow you to do?"

Sasuke's eyes widened in understanding. So his sensei wanted to prepare him for the Sharingan.

Naruto assumed the Academy stance once more while Sasuke assumed the Uchiha stance,

"Begin!"

Before Naruto could make a move, Sasuke used his superior speed to appear behind the blond and jabbed at Naruto's neck. While Naruto was slightly slower than Sasuke, he ducked and did a leg sweep at his rival. Sasuke jumped and Naruto utilised that moment to create some distance between his opponent. Wasting no time, Sasuke lunged toward Naruto as soon as his feet touched to ground attempted a chakra infused round house kick at his friend. Naruto blocked the attack but felt his arms bruise, the blond immediately tried a left hook but Sasuke easily somersaulted away.

'I've got to do something with his speed. But how can I achieve this without ninjutsu?'

Suddenly, an idea popped into Naruto's head and ran up a nearby tree until he was at the top.

Sasuke didn't know what Naruto was planning but followed quickly. Naruto grinned in satisfaction as the Uchiha was following him up the tree. Naruto stood calmly on a branch, the sun shone brightly on his back. Sasuke launched himself, trying to tackle Naruto at top speed but the blond simply moved out of the way, and the bright sunlight blinded Sasuke. All Naruto had do was to punch the blinded Sasuke on the face, which sent the Uchiha falling the tree and land painfully on his back.

Kakashi smiled at the blond's plan.

'He really is the number one ninja at surprising people.'

"Sasuke, analyse the spar please."

Sasuke was still sulking at his own foolishness…

"Naruto figured a way to counter my superior speed and I stupidly fell for it." Sasuke stated dejectedly.

"Cheer up, teme. You're still better at taijutsu than me." Naruto comforted his friend.

Kakashi took out 3 sets of weights. 20kg for Naruto, 15 kg for Sasuke and 5 kg for Sakura.

"These weights will effectively help you improve your speed. Wear at all times except for missions and combat activities. They might stain you a bit at first but you'll get used to them. I'll increase you weights once your speed increases."

For the rest of the day, Kakashi instructed his students on various taijutsu techniques and forced Naruto and Sasuke to accompany Sakura to run a lap around Konoha.

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"What?! They can already use elemental ninjutsu?" Hiruzen exclaimed.

"Yep. That's why I asked you to find a C-rank mission for them." Kakashi eye smiled.

"I see. I'll give you're an escort mission then. It's an escort mission to the Land of Waves. However, I should warn you, the client seems a little…. suspicious. I mean, I don't think he told us the true nature of this mission. I'm sending you in case it turns into a B rank or even S rank mission."

"Got it. My team will come by tomorrow to the Mission Assignment Desk." Kakashi replied lazily.

'This might be interesting'

AN: I see from the reviews that people think Kakashi might get paired with Yugao. I've considered the possibility but since the Kakashi in my story is really powerful, I think it's only suitable for him to get paired with a strong kunoichi who is Kage level(definitely not Tsunade). Any guesses?


	5. Mission Start!

**AN: So sorry for the extremely late update. I've had problems with my computer and hopefully, I can get back to updating once a week. Please Review!**

"Yatta! A C rank mission! You're the best, Kakashi sensei!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Hn, finally something interesting." Sasuke smirked while Sakura stared at him with hearts in her eyes.

Kakashi eye smiled at his team. They really had talent. Naruto and Sasuke easily grasped a few more elemental jutsus and Sakura even managed to master the B-rank Doton: Doryuheki (Earth Release: Earth Style Wall). The jonin decided not to tell his team about the suspicious nature of this mission. Shinobi should learn to adapt to dangerous environments.

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"Tazuna san, what is the Land of Waves like." Sakura asked.

"Well, it's quite a small nation compared to the Land of Fire. There's nothing much, really." The carpenter scratched his head nervously.

"I read somewhere that the Land of Waves didn't have enough money to build their own shinobi village." Naruto butted in.

Tazuna said nothing, but Kakashi saw that the man glared at Naruto.

'Is it possible that he didn't have enough money to pay for a higher ranked mission?'

The elite jonin decided interrogate the master bridge builder if they ran to enemy shinobi and as if by coincidence, he saw the puddle of water.

'How naïve, hiding in a puddle of water when it hasn't rained for days. They are probably chunin level, ill let my team handle them. I'll step in if things go wrong.'

Sure enough, a few moments after the team walked past the puddle, two armoured shinobi rose out of the water and lunged for their most dangerous opponent. Metal gauntlets wrapped around Kakashi but the jonin performed a replacement technique.

Sasuke smirked.

'Guess sensei thinks that we can handle them.'

"Demon Brothers from Kirigakure. Chunin level assassins who use poison on their weapons!" Sakura shouted out the information. It was agreed earlier that she would be the information provider for the team during fights.

The two missing nins charged at Tazuna, eager to get the kill, but Sakura stepped in front, determined to protect the client.

**Magen: Narakumi no Jutsu**

Instantly, the two brothers saw a vision of each other dying. While they managed to break the illusion a few seconds later, Naruto already had his clones pounce on them to hold them down.

"Let's go Sasuke!"

Sasuke nodded.

**Katon: Ryuka no Jutsu**

**Futon: Daitoppa**

A massive firestorm sprang to life and easily burned the Demon Brothers and Naruto's clones to crisp. Even from a distance, Tazuna felt the need to turn away from the extreme heat.

"What..."

Naruto hadn't expected a single jutsu to do the job and he certainly didn't intend let the enemies suffer such a horrible death. The blond had always imagined that his first kill would be a simple kunai to the throat or just a few shuriken to the chest. Watching the enemies burn to death, Naruto almost wished that he didn't learn the jutsu.

Sakura sobbed. These ninjas were enemies, but no one deserved to die in such a cruel and painful way. To make it worse, she was the one who initiated the counter attack.

Sasuke saw the shock on his teammates' faces, but he simply shrugged. After witnessing his own brother murder his whole clan, he knew that shinobi are killers, thieves and spies. In the ninja world, a guilty conscience could easily get you killed.

Kakashi stepped out behind a tree. While he was happy with his team's superb teamwork, they made several rookie's mistakes.

"Pretty clean and thorough, but do you have a reason for not sparing one for interrogation?" The elite jonin asked.

The three genin were silent. All of their focus was on eliminating the enemies.

"While the combination tactic you used was quite powerful, you left Tazuna san open to attack from behind as all of you stood in front of him. If the enemy was a tad more skilled,they could've used your fire jutsu as a smokescreen to kawarimi behind and kill Tazuna san." Kakashi continued.

"Hai, sensei!"

"However, I will cut you some slack as this is your first kill and of course, good work on dispatching two chunin." The copy ninja eye smiled.

"Hn, were they really chunin? I thought it would take more than that to kill them." Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"Mah, Mah, let's not get arrogant, Sasuke. They could've underestimated you and of course, they might have became chunin due to their assassination skills."

Naruto and Sakura remained silent, there first kill left quite an impression.

"Now, I want to move onto the most important thing." Kakashi paused for attention.

"Tazuna san, care to tell us why the ninjas tried to kill you?" Kakashi let loose a small burst of killing intent.

"What are you talking about? How do you know that they are after me? They could've been thieves." Tazuna retorted.

"They purposely charged at you with POISONOUS weapons. Now spill it or we forfeit the mission." Kakashi's voice had a dangerous edge as he emitted even more killing intent.

The bridge builder fell to his knees.

"I'm super sorry for deceiving you guys."

Tazuna proceeded to tell Team 7 about the suffering of The Land of Waves, about how Gato was after his life.

"Sensei, we have to help them. Tazuna san is their hope!" Naruto exclaimed.

Tazuna's eyes watered at the boy's kindness.

In truth, Kakashi himself was a little bored from the boring D-rank missions he had his team do lately. Now the simple C-rank mission may very well become an A-rank or even S-rank mission.

'A bit too early for fresh genins but a good way to give them more experience.'

"Alright Tazuna san, my team will continue to protect you until the completion of the bridge. However, your nation is to give Konoha favoured trade status."

Tazuna almost jumped up in joy.

"You got it."

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The group managed to find a place to camp for the night. While Kakashi could've used Kamui to teleport all of them to The Land of Waves in a few seconds, he decided to travel there by conventional means as he wanted his students to gain more experience by fighting some more ninjas that Gato might send.

'Next time, it should be jonin or above.'

Kakashi knew that he could easily handle low S-rank threats without any real effort. High S-ranked ones would require a bit more than half his true power and he definitely had to use his full strength against SS-rank ninjas, not that there were any known ones other than himself.

The silver haired man acknowledged that there may be a few other unknown SS-ranked threats alive and that was why he refrained from using more than half of his abilities unless necessary. Good shinobi hid their abilities.

"Sensei, does it get any easier?" Kakashi was suddenly thrown out of his thoughts by Naruto.

The man instantly knew what his sensei's son was talking about.

"Imagine what the assassins would do if you didn't kill them. They could've murdered Tazuna, an innocent man trying to save his country from poverty."

"I never thought being a shinobi would be so...ugh." The blond clenched his teeth.

"Disgusting? Dishonorable? Remember Naruto, we live in a flawed world. I wish there was a way for people to understand each other without bloodshed, it's my lifelong dream and it was my sensei's dream as well. My parents died from this cycle of hatred, your parents were killed by it as well, but in order to escape this cycle, we have protect ourselves and those who are dear to us. Violence for justice self-protection is fine, as long as you don't enjoy it."

"Thanks, sensei. I hope for peace as well, but how can I achieve it if even you and the Fourth Hokage can't." Naruto asked, crestfallen.

"I don't know either, but you have what it takes, the guts to never give up." Kakashi eye smiled.

"Thanks sensei! I'll become the Hokage and change the world!" Naruto grinned.

Kakashi sighed. He would do anything to protect that optimism and Will of Fire.

**AU: Next Time: The Demon of The Mist. Please Review!**


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